Thursday, April 14, 2016

Public Release: 25-Feb-2016
Parental pressure pushes young athletes to doping
University of Kent

Pressure to be perfect from parents makes young male athletes positive about doping, research from the University of Kent shows.

Research from the University's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences has revealed that parental pressure makes junior athletes more likely to use banned substances to enhance sporting performance.

Because of the risks identified in the findings, lead researcher Daniel Madigan suggests anti-doping programmes should target junior athletes early in their sporting careers, and that parents should be made of the potential consequences of such pressure.

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Daniel Madigan, who is a PhD student, said: 'The problem of pressure from parents watching their children play sports is widely known, with referees and sporting bodies highlighting the difficulties and taking steps to prevent it.

'With the rise of so-called "tiger" parenting where strict and demanding parents push their children to high levels of achievement, this study reveals the price young athletes may choose to pay to meet their parents expectations and dreams.'